Florida Republicans terrorized a teacher because of a Black Lives Matter flag. She hit back and won [View all]

[marmar]

Florida Republicans terrorized a teacher because of a Black Lives Matter flag. She hit back and won
"I feel vindicated but I also feel sad," Amy Donofrio said after a judge ruled her BLM banner broke no school rules


By AMANDA MARCOTTE
Senior Writer
PUBLISHED JUNE 19, 2024 6:00AM (EDT)


(Salon) "Jesus himself never condemned slavery," one Florida man said to defend the honor of Confederate leader Robert E. Lee during a March 2021 school board meeting in Jacksonville. "In fact, he said, slaves have an obligation to obey their master," the outraged white man insisted.

....(snip)....

Alarmed by what she was hearing, Amy Donofrio decided to do something. She was a teacher at the Duvall County school, which has since been renamed Riverside High School, and she knew how sentiments like the ones shared at the school board meeting made her students feel. "Students made it clear that they were dealing with a lot," Donofrio told Salon. "They were walking into our schools facing racism, frankly, from every corner."

....(snip)....

So Donofrio took photos and videos from the school board meeting, including another one of a man asking, "If this high school is having problems, how long has it been predominantly African-American?" And she expressed concerns to the administration that such comments hurt her students. She would soon be removed from her classroom, publicly targeted by the Republican state government under Gov. Ron DeSantis, eventually fired, and threatened with having her teaching license stripped entirely.

....(snip)....

Donofrio, meanwhile, was still fighting to keep her teaching license. Finally, she got a hearing before an administration judge in February and a decision in April. The judge ruled for Donofrio on the issue of the Black Lives Matter flag. Donofrio's "intent to affirm and support her students was clear, and she had a successful history of promoting the physical and emotional well-being of her minority students," the judge wrote. Instead, the judge noted "the School environment became hostile after administration removed the flag," because the principal "had to work hard, meeting with students and making extra efforts to assure students that he supported them and that their lives did indeed matter to him." In June, the final hearing was held, and the DeSantis government lost again: Donofrio's teaching license remains intact. ...............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/06/19/florida-terrorized-a-teacher-because-of-a-black-lives-matter-flag-she-hit-back-and-won/